Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
Stories Chosen For You
Arizona GOP election official quits over threats from ‘nasty’ Trump supporters: report
July 02, 2022
Donald Trump's continued lies about the 2020 presidential election he lost has resulted in the loss of yet another GOP official.
"The elected county recorder and the elections director in Arizona’s Yavapai County are resigning after more than a year and a half of threats and heated criticism from backers of former President Donald Trump who accept his lie that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud," the Associated Press reported Saturday. "County Recorder Leslie Hoffman said Friday that she is fed up with the "nastiness" and has accepted a job outside the county. Her last day will be July 22. She said longtime elections director Lynn Constabile is leaving for the same reason, and Friday is her last day."
The news comes less than a week after Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) revealed evidence of witness tampering during a public hearing of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"A lot of it is the nastiness that we have dealt with," Hoffman said. "I’m a Republican recorder living in a Republican county where the candidate that they wanted to win won by 2-to-1 in this county and still getting grief, and so is my staff."
"I’m not sure what they think that we did wrong," she said. "And they’re very nasty. The accusations and the threats are nasty."
Ken Matta, the head of election security at the Arizona Secretary of State's office, quit his job in May, also citing the threats.
Early ballots for the August primary are to be mailed next week.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Trump wanted to ‘neutralize' the presidential chain of succession by seizing power at the Capitol: expert
July 02, 2022
Fascism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat provided fascinating insight — and a terrifying prediction about future Republican Party violence — when she was interviewed by CNN's Jim Acosta on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that on Jan. 6, Trump was "irate" when the Secret Service would not drive him to the Capitol and lunged for the steering wheel of his presidential limousine.
Acosta began that interview by noting that weeks before Hutchinson's testimony, Ben-Ghiat had informed his audience that Trump had to go to the Capitol for the phase of a coup where the new order would be announced. Acosta described her analysis as "almost clairvoyant."
"And we have since learned that Trump did try to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6, but his Secret Service stopped him," Acosta said. "Ruth, what is your reaction to everything we learned this week, including this new CNN reporting that seems to back up what Cassidy Hutchison was saying?"
"I'm really disturbed, not surprised, about the role of violence," the New York University professor replied.
"It was very telling to me that Trump said chief of staff Mark Meadows, who seems to have been like the control center of this operation, she said that when the violence broke out, he didn't seem concerned at all, and he didn't seem perturbed, and that's because violence was part of the plan. It has to be in a coup," she explained.
"That's also why Trump wanted the, you know, weapons detectors removed, and so the other thing that stands out is that not only did he want to be driven there to the Capitol and be at the head of this, you know, violent thug march into the Capitol, but Ms. Hutchinson testified that there were conversations about him entering the chamber," she continued. "And what that says to me is first, you know, you've neutralized the presidential chain of succession. They were going to do something to Pence, they were hunting Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi, speaker, and so he was going to also have fixed the problem with the electoral counts because Pence wasn't there, and then he was going to declare himself at the head of this violent mob in the chamber as a legitimate president, and that's where that phase of the coup would have ended."
"It's extraordinary what we're learning from these hearings," she said.
Acosta asked Ben-Ghiat to compare Trump to other leaders she has studied.
She said Trump, "and his party are behaving in a desperate way, and when autocrats think they're going down, they will do anything -- and we've seen Jan. 6 -- to stay in power. What's really extraordinary is how Trump, who came from outside politics, put the GOP in such a state of authoritarian subjection and discipline that the whole party is completely compromised. We're learning from these hearings just how many people were involved," she said.
"And unfortunately, I think we can expect more extremist behavior, aggressive behavior from the party because they are acting out of fear. They're guilty, and their coup failed, and they've been exposed to the world by these hearings, and so they are -- they're in emergency mode," Ben-Bhiat warned.
Watch:
Ruth Ben Ghiat www.youtube.com
CONTINUE READING
Show less
The select committee investigating Donald Trump's coup attempt has two new critical categories of evidence against the former president, a legal expert argued on MSNBC on Saturday.
"As we learn more about potential witness tampering during the Jan. 6 committee's investigation, this week's testimony of former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson could explain why those in Trumpworld were so worried about what she might have to say," MSNBC's Cori Coffin reported.
For analysis, Coffin interviewed former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner.
"According to Hutchison, Trump knew that some of his supporters would be armed that day, sent them to the Capitol anyway, even hoping to join them," she noted. "So, does this open up the former president to be criminally liable?"
"Yeah, this is what I would call smoking gun evidence," Kirschner replied.
READ: Idaho Trumper misses paycheck after mismanagement left her office with only $0.72: report
"And interestingly, at the last J6 public hearing, we got both smoking gun evidence, and we got loaded gun evidence," he continued. "And what I mean by that is, as you just played in your lead-in, Cori, the president knew. He was briefed that his crowd was armed with assault rifles and pistols and knives and brass knuckles and bear spray, etc."
"And you would think a reasonable response from a president would be, oh my goodness, let's make sure the metal detectors are operating properly," he explained. "He said just the opposite, take them down, let the armed members of the group in, and they can march to the Capitol from there. To do what? To stop the certification of his political opponent's election win. So in a very real sense, that smoking gun evidence that Donald Trump wanted to lead what we now know is an armed attack on the Capitol. The loaded gun evidence is, the witness tampering information, and you know, witness tampering just strikes at the very heart of the integrity of investigations, whether congressional or criminal."
Watch below or at this link.
MSNBC www.youtube.com
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Copyright © 2022 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}